A Swedish court has ruled that a cargo vessel in the Baltic Sea was lawfully seized and that the ship can be handed over to Ukraine.

Kyiv suspects it of illegally transporting grain from Russian-occupied territory.

Swedish police and the coast guard seized the vessel, the Caffa, off southern Sweden in March, alleging it was sailing under a false flag and violated maritime and ship safety laws due to a lack of seaworthiness.

A lawyer for the owner, Caffa Shipping Limited, had challenged the seizure and sought the vessel’s release, according to the June 4 ruling.

Ukraine is seeking the ship as part of an investigation into suspected war crimes involving the appropriation and removal of property from Russian-occupied territory, the court said.

A Russian amusement park in St Petersburg has named one of its rides the “Oreshnik”, after a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that Moscow has fired three times at Ukraine.

Visitors to the rocket-shaped attraction are repeatedly lifted into the air and plunged into sudden stomach-churning drops.

Not everyone is pleased with the name, however.

“I don’t think it fits. The best name for it would be ‘Rocket’… I don’t understand what it’s got to do with the Oreshnik – who came up with that name?” one woman said.

A man visiting the park on Friday told Reuters: “A children’s attraction should have a children’s name, that’s my personal opinion.”

Three people were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday, Russian state nuclear corporation head Alexei Likhachev said, according to Interfax news agency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has negotiated a temporary local ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, the sixth since late last year, allowing repairs to a power supply line to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant.

Russia is not expecting a visit by U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the near future, Interfax reported on Friday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The two had previously been involved in mediation efforts between Russia and Ukraine, which stalled in February after the United States and Israel began military action against Iran.

The European Union must show it is willing and able to take in new members, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday.

The bloc’s leaders were gathering with Western Balkan counterparts hoping to join in the coming years.

Enlargement has risen up ​the EU agenda due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, with Kyiv keen to join the ​bloc.

But the process of joining is usually long and complex, involving years of negotiations and legal reforms, ​with approval of all 27 current EU members required to complete each step.

“The European Union has to show that it is capable of enlarging and willing to enlarge and we want to discuss that here,” Merz told reporters at the summit in the Montenegrin coastal town of Tivat.

“There are, of course, a whole range of questions that we must answer, that we must answer together, but above all else, it must be clear that this part of Europe belongs within the European Union’s future,” Merz added.

Putin has now said that inflation in Russia had slowed significantly and would be close to 5.2 per cent in 2026.

The Kremlin chief was speaking at Russia’s annual economic forum.

He adds that around 65 per cent of Russia’s export operations are now rouble-denominated.

Putin also warned that Russia’s budget deficit could increase over the course of the year, as we reported earlier.

We’re hearing from Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is speaking at an economic forum in St Petersburg.

The “theft” of Russian assets has had an impact on the US dollar and Euro, he says, referring to international sanctions imposed on Russian assets abroad.

Putin adds that Russia’s budget deficit – when expenses exceed income – may increase over the year.

But he tells the room of delegates that the BRICS alliance – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is performing better than the G7.

Russia was formerly part of the G7, when it was known as the G8, before it was expelled following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.